How can I reuse or recycle broken computer motherboards?

We were around at our friend’s house the other night when John spotted a very cool looking piece of computer circuitry in the bin – a broken motherboard.

I’ve been wanting broken circuit boards for repurposing for a while – but there were too many big plastic slots/connectors on it for what I had in mind (namely using pieces of the circuit board to make jewellery or large flat pieces as notebook covers).

What else could be done with it? Are there any companies/organisations that specifically collect them for cannibalising/reuse/recycling or should they just be disposed of with other electronic waste?

One Christmas for our work tree, I made ornaments with pieces of computer boards. I used a saw to cut them up, then added big fake jewels which gave them some sparkle. Everyone loved the tree as it was especially appropriate for the IT (computer) department.

Many Goodwill retail stores will take computers and parts (including circuit boards) free of charge. The Goodwill in northern New England (Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont) will take old circuit boards and safely recycle them.

Be careful about how you use electronic parts, especially for jewelry. A lot of electronic components contain mercury or lead or other metals that while safe inside an enclosure, can be toxic after prolonged direct exposure.

Give it to your local computer geek/robot builder (like me). Any electronics guy or ham or anyone like that will be more than happy to take it off your hands (we salvage very useful parts off of them). And for goodness sake, DON’T put it on anything or near anything that will be touched right before eating or drinking or stuff, because it is very very likely that, unless it is RoHS complient(which is a standard that came out a while ago that means you can’t use lead in products) , it has lead in the solder which practically covers the whole board (see all that silvery stuff). For heaven’s sake, don’t put anything in your mouth right after you touched it…wash your hands first!

P.S. If the solder doesn’t have lead in it, then it almost certainly has antimony in it, which another toxic substance.

We have someone on Freecycle in the Wirral in the North West of England who recycles computers and posts them for free on the site, I have noticed he has often requested parts. So it might worth seeing if there is a similar enthusiast in your area who likes the fun of building computers from parts.

The Portal in St Mary Street in Edinburgh has used motherboard all over the entrance doorway.http://www.wasteinnovations.com/portal.php ( it is a useless website because it has not been updated in months but will give you address etc)

some great ideas for reusing, word of advice also beware when disposing of the button battery used to store the cmos data on the board, this is a lithium battery that is hazardous waste. If you cant find a reuse or recycling please take to your local council run waste recycling centre for them to recycle.

If your in the North East of England and would like some information on recycling your old motherboards (or any electrical items) check out weeerecycleelectronics.co.uk by clicking on the link on my name.

Checkout RecycleChicken.com (www.recyclechicken.com) :: RecycleChicken is an online searchable directory of where to take anything and everything for recycling and reuse in your area. The RecycleChicken directory provides recycling and reuse locations that are Beyond the Curbside.

They are a great bunch of folks trying to help the environment – Derrick Douglass – ChiefRemixOlogist – ThiftStoreRemix